Home Base Nation Thanksgiving Message from host Ron Hirschberg 

11-23-22

“Thank you sir, for your service.” I said this to a Marine Veteran in the hospital the other day who was admitted with a bad pneumonia, and he was getting back on his feet to get home hopefully for Thanksgiving. He said Thank YOU doc for yours. I nodded and lifted my brow, knowing that like every other day I would still take the train home to my suburban neighborhood, sleep in a comfy bed and feel safe at home.

As doctors we sign up to help treat disease, help function - but we don’t sign up to get in harms way to keep others safe and free. Covid changed things around the hospital, and in the thick of things the real and raw emotional and physical struggles many healthcare workers went through changed the conversation – Yes, do no harm, Yes, heal the sick… But risk your life in the process? We are amazingly almost 3 years from the start of the pandemic. Things are different now, mostly for the better. Sports are back. Music is back. Politics aside, we are also safer due to vaccines. However, we lost many people, the world lost many people. Today on Thanksgiving, I am thankful for a kind of new normal.

But most of all, I am thankful for the men and women who have served - out there right now and every day around the world who wake up every morning and genuinely not only think of others welfare but to do it while their own safety or life may be at risk. That’s why we need to take care of them. Our Home Base friend Green Beret Julian Kitching said at Fenway this summer something I will never forget – He summed this up in what he calls The Equation – He said, “This is about simple math: When we sign people up to go do difficult things for all of us – We need to automatically sign up for that other side of the equation, which is making sure we are taking care of those families and servicemembers when they come back. We must pour in as much as they have given.”

We are grateful for all of you who support this great program to address the other side of The Equation. If you want to make a donation during this holiday season, Home Base thanks you! Go to www.homebase.org/donate

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Thank you to Matt Battaille for your service and all you continue to do.

To learn more about how you can help your Ukrainian refugee neighbors, please go to www.cuttingthered.com

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Theme music for Home Base Nation: "Rolling the tree" by The Butler Frogs

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The Home Base Nation Team is Steve Monaco, Army Veteran Kelly Field, Phebe Garver, Justin Scheinert, Chuck Clough, with COO Michael Allard, Brigadier General Jack Hammond, and Peter Smyth.

Producer and Host: Dr. Ron Hirschberg
Assistant Producer, Editor: Chuck Clough
Chairman, Home Base Media Lab: Peter Smyth

To Donate to Home Base where every dollar goes to the care of veterans and military families that is cost to them, go to: www.homebase.org/donate.

Home Base Nation is the official podcast of Home Base Program for Veterans and Military Families, a partnership of the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation. To learn more and connect with us at Home Base Nation: www.homebase.org/podcast

The views expressed by guests to the Home Base Nation podcast are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by guests are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Home Base, the Red Sox Foundation or any of its officials.